Benedict XVI also noted that Monday marks the feast of St. Benedict, abbot and patron of Europe.

“In light of this Gospel we look to him as a master of listening to the Word of God, a deep and persevering listening,” the Pontiff reflected.

“We must always learn from the great patriarch of Western monasticism to give God the place that belongs to him, the first place, offering him, with morning and evening prayer, our daily activities,” the Pope exhorted. “May the Virgin Mary help us by her example to be ‘good soil’ where the seed of the word might bear fruit.”